Attwood examines Victorian attitudes to prostitution across a number of sources: medical, literary, pornographic.

Introduction: 'The Great Social Evil' - Representing the Victorian Prostitute; Chapter 1 White-Washed Sepulchres and Wives of Englishmen: William Acton's Representation of English Prostitutes; Chapter 2 From 'Masses of Rottenness' to the 'Queen's Women': The Report of the Royal Commission (1871); Chapter 3 Mothers, Sisters and Shameless Women: Josephine Butler and the Victorian Prostitute; Chapter 4 Mercy and Grace: Wilkie Collins and the New Magdalen; Chapter 5 My Secret Life and the Pornographic Representation of Prostitution; conclusion Conclusion: Countering the Myth;